Career
Barakat was a 1961 graduate of Assumption College in Worcester, Master of Arts where he was a two-time All-America basketball player for the Greyhounds. He was a territorial draft selection of the New York Knicks (National Basketball Association) and also had a baseball try-out with the San Francisco Giants. He played five years in the Eastern Basketball Pro League.
Barkat became the sixth men"s college basketball coach of the Fairfield University Stags in 1970 and is the all-time most successful coach in the school"s history (160-128).
He led the Stags to three National Invitation Tournament appearances (1973, 74, 78) including the programs" first post-season berth as a Division I program in 1973. He also led the team to three East.C.A.C. regionals in 1977, 78 and 80.
The Stags 22-5 mark in 1977-1978 was a then-school record. He joined the staff of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1981 as Assistant Commissioner and in 2000 received the additional title of Director of Men"s Basketball Operations.
He was inducted into the Assumption Alumni-Athletic Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Fairfield Hall of Fame in 1990.
A native of Union City, New Jersey, he was graduated from Emerson High and was also inducted into Emerson High (1998) and Hudson County (1999) Hall of Fames. Barakat died in Greensboro of a heart attack on June 21, 2010 at the age of 71.
